THE NATURE AND NECESSITY OF GIVING THE HEART TO GOD, CONSIDERED AND ENFORCED.
[Preached at Nantwich, July 1, 1781.]
“My son,give me thine heart.â€Prov. xxiii. 26.
“My son,give me thine heart.â€Prov. xxiii. 26.
Itis a very strong proof of the depravity of human nature, that the most persuasive arguments, that revelation itself can furnish, are insufficient to induce the children of men to seek the things that belong to their everlasting peace. When the world calls, and secular interest prompts, they want no spur to their assiduity, no incentive to their zeal. The greatest toil is sustained with cheerfulness, difficulties apparently insuperable are surmounted with ease, and no degree of solicitude is deemed excessive, although in the ardor of pursuit, the only object that presents itself, is either the fascinating phantom of pleasure, the accursed lure of gold, or the bubble of worldly honor, which often isburst by the same uncertain breath that inflated it. But when God calls, either in the menacing language of incensed majesty, or in the attractive voice of parental mercy and pity; how slow to hear are the insensible creatures that are addressed! how unwilling to yield obedience to a call, that invites them to happiness, to heaven! Although the way into which they are solicited to enter, and walk, is the path of glory, honor, and immortality; yet how many objections are made, how many difficulties started, to impede or intimidate the heart in a pursuit of its best, its eternal interests! And, although present peace, as an earnest of permanent bliss in reversion; a sense of the divine favor, as a pledge of one day entering his kingdom; all the unsearchable riches of grace, and all the inexhaustible treasures of glory, are the substantial blessings held forth to sinners in the gospel of the blessed God; yet, how strangely is all this profusion of grace and goodness overlooked or contemned, even by those who are most interested in it! In the eyes of multitudes, worldly vanities possess more intrinsic charms than the eternal realities of the invisible world; He, who is “altogether lovely,†has no form or comeliness, in the opinion of the gay, the proud, and the self-righteous; and all the glories of heaven itself are so depreciated in the estimateof deluded mortals, that, in their false balance, a feather outweighs a kingdom, and a never-dying soul is of less value than the bread that perisheth.
An infatuation of so gross and of so perilous a nature, can arise only from some dreadful evil latent in the innermost recesses of the mind. This evil issin, which hath depraved the soul’s noblest faculties, and given it a corrupt bias, by which it is disinclined to that which is good, and precipitated to that which is evil. Otherwise, men would never act with such fatal inconsistency, as they appear universally to do, when the objects proposed to their choice are the temporary pleasures of sin on the one hand, and the unsearchable riches of Christ on the other. Were not something dreadfully amiss within, the human mind would not be so totally blind to its own favorite principle, self-interest, as to admit its weight, when worldly acquisitions are in view, and yet forget it, when even a vast eternity is at stake. What, but the utmost carnality and depravation of heart, can make men fly in their Maker’s face, or rush upon the thick bosses of his buckler, by trampling under foot, what it is their duty and happiness to observe and reverence! And what, but the very foolishness of folly, can prompt them to prefer the slavery of the devil to the liberty of the sonsof God! Or what, but the most vitiated taste, can make them relish the foulest dregs of sensuality, and discover no thirst for those rivers of pleasure, that flow deep and pure at God’s right hand!
Whatever the Father of mercies enjoins, must be a transcript of his law,—holy, just, and good. His counsels are replete with wisdom, and are admirably directed to the great end of making us better and happier. His service is founded upon principles the most highly reasonable, and leads to bliss of the most permanent nature. When he commands, he consults our good; and when he threatens, no less than when he promises, his end is to save. When he demands any thing of us, he only asks his own; and acquiescence here is salvation. And what but the most perverse repugnancy to the divine will can ever prevent us from complying with proposals, that equally involve in them our own happiness and the glory of God? O the hardness of the heart of man, that can make him a foe to himself, and an enemy to his God! Can any demand, for instance, be couched in terms more reasonable or more captivating, than those in our text? whether we suppose them as the affectionate request of Solomon to his son, or, as the tender and just requisition of one greater than Solomon to the sons of men? Hath notGod an indisputable right to our hearts? Is not his claim to them founded on reasons that derive their strength and cogency from the greatest and most gracious works ofJehovah? Ask creation; consult all the dispensations of providence; but especially that grand dispensation of grace and mercy in the gospel; and then say, who ought to have our hearts, but He, who made them, and bled for them? Oh! that when the important question is put, “Who amongst us will give God, the Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer of men his heart?†there may not be one negative voice in this assembly! And may he, who hath all power both in heaven and in earth, “who openeth and no man shutteth,†effectually conquer every prejudice against the truth, while I proceed to consider;First, What is implied in giving the heart to God;Secondly, The tempers which ought to actuate us in making the surrender;Thirdly, The necessity of doing this, principally arising from the natural state of the heart;Fourthly, The motives to induce us to comply with God’s reasonable demand.
I. What is implied in giving the heart to God? Now, in order to complete this important surrender, it is indispensably requisite, that unruly appetites should be subdued, and the most beloved lusts sacrificed;—the alienated affectionsrestored to their original claimant, and set upon God as their supreme object,—and an outward evidence of the truth of this dedication be given, in an habitual consecration of our corporeal faculties, our time, health, families, fortune, &c. to the honor and service of the Lord.
1. It implies the conquest of passions, and the sacrifice of the most beloved lusts. These in the heart are like rebels in a state. They usurp the chief power; and, while they domineer, there “is confusion and every evil work.â€Â Reason is subjected to the loose reins of impetuous passion. God, the rightful sovereign, is dethroned. His law is violated. His will despised. While Satan, that infernal usurper, gives laws to every faculty, and “leads the heart captive at his will.â€Â And what renders this scene of anarchy and rebellion the more melancholy, is, that the heart naturally hugs its own chains, and delights to feed the vipers that spread poison and death through all its powers. From hence arises the cordial love of sin, and a delight in those sinful propensities, which lead to endless ruin. And from hence arises the difficulty of giving the heart to God: because it is requisite that every inordinate pursuit be checked, every tyrannical passion bridled, and every sin, whether gainful, or constitutional, or fashionable, be mortified, before the heart canbe emancipated from its slavery. For, how can it be free, while the tyrant sin reigns in it? Let none, therefore, boast of liberty, until the predominant lusts that lead him captive are given up, and sacrificed at the foot of the cross. Neither let any suppose, unless they wish to flatter themselves to their ruin, that their hearts are right with God, so long as they harbour internal adversaries, which he hateth. As well might they attempt to reconcile light and darkness, Christ and Belial, together; or to make the liberty of a Briton consist with the thraldom of a galley slave.
And here it seems necessary to observe, that our renunciation of sin must extend not to gross indulgences merely, but to spiritual wickedness, to internal favorite lusts, to the secret working of which no eye is privy, but God’s and our own. Though the parting with them should exceed the pain that attends “the plucking out a right eye, or cutting off a right arm,†the one the most tender organ, and the other the most useful member in the human frame; yet they must be given up; and not some, but all. Thus it is written: “O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved! How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?â€Â Jer. iv. 14. “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up hiscross, and follow me.â€Â Mark, viii. 34. No man, therefore, can be said to have given his heart to God, until he hath given up his sins, and until his heart hath been cleansed from the guilt, and rescued from the tyrannical sway of those vicious inclinations, by which he had been made the miserable dupe of Satan and the world.
It would incur equal danger and absurdity for any man to conclude that he is a partaker of the blessing recommended in our text, either because he may haveoutwardly reformed, or desisted from sordid and impious gratificationsthrough accident. In the former case, the partial change is effected by a mere regard to reputation, without any real love of virtue, or hatred of sin; and thus a degree of outward reformation, where the heart is not renovated in its leading principles, may spring from pride, and perfectly consist with the inherency of every corruption, which self-complacency and formality can nurture. Or the apparent alteration may be the result of that pain of mind, which is often occasioned by embarrassed circumstances, a distempered constitution, or a sullied reputation; and is not seldom produced by some temporary pangs of legal remorse, or corrosions of natural conscience. When the hand of the Lord was stretched out against Pharaoh, heseemed to relent and repent. But no sooner were the desolating judgments removed, and the apprehension of present danger ceased, but the impious tyrant “hardened his heart,†and gave evident proof, that service arising from servile fear is transient and deceitful, and that the obedience of a slave and that of a son differ very materially in this, that the one is permanent and voluntary, the other temporary and compelled. Belshazzer was filled with horror, when he beheld the awful hand-writing that announced his approaching doom. Felix trembles, when Paul “reasons†before him “of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.â€Â And Herod “did many things†while he sat under the ministry of John the Baptist. But not one of these men trembled or acted to any saving purpose, because the secret attachment to the most abandoned lusts remained. Sin was too sweet in an adulterous heart to be given up for the awful warning of an apostle, or the intrepid reproof of the illustrious forerunner of the Son of God. So that many things may be done, and yet ifonething be omitted,—if theheartbe not given to God—it annuls all the rest; and all the concessions and seeming remorse extorted by present sufferings, or the dread of future torments, are often as insincere as the reformation produced by them issuperficial. Besides, let us be extremely cautious how we conclude, that either ourselves or others are safe, because a degree of outward decency or freedom from grosser impieties may have taken place; since it is very possible that one great evil may be exchanged for agreater, and thelaststate of some sinners may be worse than thefirst. Mat. xii. 43–45. A sepulchre, whited and ornamented to a high degree, may nevertheless be the seat of rottenness and putrefaction. So a reformed licentiate, where the renovation of theheartis wanting, has been often known to sink into the very dregs of formality and self-righteousness, and to turn out a virulent blasphemer of the most glorious and discriminating doctrines of the gospel. If theheartbe not washed from the wickedness of domineeringpride,worldly conformity,fear of man,self-conceit, andunbelief, to “wash the outside of the cup and platter,†will avail nothing. “Cleansefirstthat which isWITHIN,†is our Lord’s direction. Mat. xxiii. 26.
As to the other case alluded to above, it often happens that a degree of reformation may take place through accident, or the unavoidable course of nature. This happens either through old age, or those contingencies, which often suddenly deprive some, of the means of gratifying their lusts. When the vigor of constitution isabated by declining age, or ruined by a long series of debaucheries; when health sinks with the lapse of time, or fortunes are exhausted by long extravagance; the aged become chaste, and the young, sober,through necessity. But neither, in numerous instances, forsake their sins in reality. Their sins have only forsakenthem. This would appear evident to a demonstration, were both only placed in the circumstances that once contributed fuel to their passions. Were only youth, health, or fortune, restored, the aged miser would again add his love of lewdness to that of money, and the enfeebled or impoverished rake return to all his juvenile voluptuousness, with greater ardor than ever. Through all the varying circumstances of life, the heart of an unconverted sinner is still the same, and the sinner himself would be the same, if no such variation occurred, by which his pursuits are circumscribed, or his line of sinning altered. But where the heart is really transformed, former lusts are hated; the remembrance of sin is grievous; the burden of it is intolerable; and a desire to mortify it is deeply rooted, and universal.. Pure principles are implanted. Noble passions predominate. Sublime desires and spiritual appetites attract the heart to God, and fix the conversation in heaven. Fromwhence it arises, that to give the heart to God implies,
2. A restoration of the alienated affections to their original claimant, and a placing of them upon God as their supreme object.
The heart is the seat of the affections; and the principal of these islove. According to the nature of the object, or the degree with which some objects are pursued, this affection becomes either innocent or criminal, sordid or sublime. If sin in general be the object, love is then the most diabolical passion, and pollutes every other faculty of the mind. Before the fall, it was the glory and happiness of man to love God perfectly and incessantly. Since that melancholy event, it is his misfortune to be under the influence of a “carnal mind φÏονημα σαÏξ that isenmityagainst God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.â€Â Rom. viii. 7. Hence flows an innate propensity to love the world, and from the ignorance and pride of the heart to idolizeself. This alienation of the affections is, in scripture, called adultery; and they who love the world rather than God, are branded, in the same unflattering, pages, with the odious epithet of “adulterers and adulteresses.â€Â James, iv. 4. It matters not,whatthe thing is, to which we give a primary place inour affections; even though it may be a necessary, an useful, a lawful, or even an amiable object, yet if it be loved inordinately, or with a supreme affection, it instantly becomes an idol: insomuch that our Lord saith, “He that lovethfatherormother,sonordaughter, more than me, is not worthy of me.â€Â Mat. x. 37. Things unlawful, or of moral turpitude, are not to be loved at all. And things lawful are only to be loved in a certain degree. It is not theloveof these last that is sinful; but theexcessor inordinacy of that love. In giving the heart to God, or restoring the idolatrous alienation of the affections to him,thatis given back which was originally his property. He then possesses the supreme affection, delight, and homage of the heart;—is the centre of its wishes, and the spring of its comforts. This is called “yielding ourselves to the Lord.â€Â 2 Chron. xxx. 8. And the grateful language of such a solemn surrender is, “Whom have I in heaven butThee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besideThee?â€Â Psal. lxxiii. 25.
Where the affections are thus gained over, the other sublime faculties follow of course. The contrariety of the will is broken, and made to bend in submission to the divine will. Reason resigns its pretensions to the sacred authority of revelation; and the intellectual powersare extricated from the teeming darkness of nature, and brought, by the irradiating spirit, into the bright regions of light and liberty. And the memory is so sanctified as to become the faithful repository of sacred truth. Conscience is reinstated in her viceregency in the soul; and being cleansed by the blood of Christ from the guilt and pollution of sin, establishes peace in the heart, and pours the balm of pardoning love into all its wounds. All the passions are made the willing captives of the prince of peace; and instead of rending the heart with their impetuous and clashing propensities, unite in forming concord and harmony there, by exerting their respective powers in subordination to the grace of God. Thus fear, joy, desire, hope, anger, sorrow, hatred, are no longer so many noxious springs fraught with impoisoned waters, but convey to the heart, in their respective streams, the health and purity which they have derived from the fountain of life. Those things are dreaded, which had been once pursued with eagerness. Indignation burns against once beloved idols; and affection fixes on objects, that had formerly been rejected with scorn and contempt. The heart weeps over what it once rejoiced in; and bleeds at the remembrance of those things, which, but lately, perhaps, were the spring of all its shallow and unholy mirth.Objects are now desired insatiably, for which the heart never before panted, and upon which the mind never bestowed one serious thought. Instead of living under the anguish of worldly disappointments, hope now plumes her golden wing, and stretches with a nobler flight towards the confines of a glorious eternity; leaves the sordid trash of earth below, and soars in joyful anticipation of heavenly realities. The slavish fear of the creature gives place to the filial fear of God; and he who was awed by the frown of a worm like himself, now reveres the great Omnipotent, who hath power to destroy both body and soul in hell. The love of the world is expelled by the love of Jesus; and the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, all lose their charms, or rather appear infinitely odious, when compared with even the reproach of the cross, much more when contrasted with the happy prospect of a crown of glory. The “sorrow of the world, which worketh death,†is exchanged for that godly sorrow, which worketh repentance unto life; and “joy unspeakable and full of glory,†succeeds the bitterness of conviction of sin, and brings a foretaste of heaven. God, whom the heart once hated, and the sinner shunned, is contemplated in all his august and amiable perfections, with delight and wonder; while the humblebeliever, enraptured with a view of him as reconciled to him in the Son of his love, gives vent to the fulness of his heart in the most glowing effusions of gratitude and astonishment.
“—Thou myAll!My theme! my inspiration! and my crown!My strength in age! My rise in low estate!My soul’s ambition! pleasure! wealth! my world!My light in darkness! and my life in death!My boast thro’ time! bliss thro’ eternity!Eternity, too short to speak thy praise,Or fathom thy profound of love to man!To man, of men the meanest, ev’n tome!My sacrifice! My God!—What things are these!â€Young.
“—Thou myAll!My theme! my inspiration! and my crown!My strength in age! My rise in low estate!My soul’s ambition! pleasure! wealth! my world!My light in darkness! and my life in death!My boast thro’ time! bliss thro’ eternity!Eternity, too short to speak thy praise,Or fathom thy profound of love to man!To man, of men the meanest, ev’n tome!My sacrifice! My God!—What things are these!â€
Young.
3. An outward evidence that the heart is given to God, appears in the habitual consecration of the corporeal faculties, of time, health, fortune, family, &c. to the honor of God.
As in every science some first rudiments or primary principles must precede the attainment of complete knowledge; and in every structure a foundation must be well chosen for the security of what is to rest upon it; so, in the great concerns of religion, some permanent principles must be rooted in the heart, before the sacred superstructure of holiness and righteousness can be reared in the life. Where the former areimplanted, the latter will follow of course; as a good tree in a rich soil will necessarily produce good fruit. But this fertilization produced in the heart is the effect, not of natural goodness, but of efficacious grace. When, therefore, the citadel is stormed and taken, the outworks fall with it, in consequence. So that, as soon as the heart is given to God, outward fruits appear in the conversation; without which, nothing can be more fallacious or fatal than the most towering profession. And, therefore, in the clause that stands in immediate connexion with the text, it is added, “And let thine eyes observe my ways.â€Â For, “if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.â€Â 2 Cor. v. 17. The conversation takes a new turn; and pure words and true, issue from that mouth which was once filled with malice, blasphemies, and uncleanness. The feet are swift to bear the renewed sinner to the house of God, which once carried him to the haunts of the profane. Health is no longer consumed in the service of sin; nor time wasted on the egregious follies of pleasure and dissipation. The body, once a co-partner with the soul in rebellion against God, is now the sacred temple of his in-dwelling Spirit; and all the members are now “yielded as servants to righteousnessunto holiness.â€Â Rom. vi. 19. And the principles, which lead to this universal dedication, are arguments of its genuineness, while they provide for its permanency: which reminds me of the second general head, under which I proposed considering,
II. The manner or temper, which should actuate us in making the surrender of all we have and are to the glory of God.
1. This great affair should be donesolemnly. If reciprocal acts of covenant and amity among the children of men, require deliberation, and are executed in a manner the most serious and binding, where only temporal inheritances or transitory engagements are concerned; how much more deliberate and solemn should that act be, whereby the soul maintains an intercourse with the awful Majesty of Heaven, and soul and body, with their respective functions, are surrendered to the service of the Most High for ever! in which God is chosen as the soul’s portion, and every thing is to be sacrificed to his injunctions, or given up to his care and guardianship! O with what profound reverence and self-abnegation should we make the tender of our hearts to Him, when his majesty, or our vileness, is considered. “Commune with your own heart, therefore, and in your chamber,†about this solemn act, and “pay thy vows untothe Most High.â€Â Count the cost of surrendering your heart to him; since, without due reflection, you may be disappointed and basely retract, when you hear that unless you deny yourself, and take up your cross, you cannot be his disciple.
2. Noreservemust enter into any act of dedication to God; much less into that, by which we restore him his own property. He is a jealous God, and will have thewholeheart or none. He cannot, he will not bear a rival. He must have the pre-eminence in the affections. A divided heart is his abomination. Remember how the Lord’s anger was kindled against Saul, because, when commanded to destroy the Amalekites, “hesparedAgag and thebestof the sheep, and all that wasgood, and would notutterlydestroy them.â€Â 1 Sam. xv. 9. And ponder well the case of the rich young man, in the gospel, who approached the Lord Jesus with a seeming desire to give him his heart, but “went away sorrowful,†when Jesus insisted on the sacrifice of his bosom sin, and recommended the utility of taking up the cross. It was upon that memorable occasion, that our Lord said, “A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven,†Mat. xix. 23; that is, the difficulty of entering heaven is great to all who have riches, and rises to an impossibility,where they are trusted in, and idolized. And the case is the same in every circumstance, where the heart is divided between any thing and God. So that, if there be a competitor within, that shares your affections, so as to rob Jesus of his prerogative over them, be assured you are yet in “the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity.â€Â And the idol, whether it be the love of pleasure, or profit, or honor, or self, must be pulled down, or it will dethrone Christ, and ruin your immortal souls.
3. The heart should be given upcheerfully. In every offering presented to God, it is required, that we should not “give grudgingly or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver.â€Â 2 Cor. ix. 7. This is a requisition more especially important, when the heart is the gift, and God the receiver. Why should we hesitate or grudge to give himhis own? Instead, therefore, of entertaining one repining thought at the idea, we should rather rejoice that we have hearts to give the Lord, and that he is so condescending as to take them at our hands. Mark with what readiness and vivacity the sensualist and the pleasure-taker devote their time and affections to pursuits of the most trifling and sordid nature. These poor deluded idolizers of a perishing world, think no time too long, and no pains too great, though exhausted in a servicethat is perfect bondage. They want no arguments to enforce conformity to the world, neither is the smallest compulsion necessary to drive them to their pleasures. Self-gratification is a sufficient inducement. Earthly things have an irresistible attraction. The current of their affections carries them away with an impetuous tide; and they glide swiftly and cheerfully along, though the objects of their false felicity are empty and precarious as the bubble, and the deceitful stream is wafting them with a rapid but imperceptible course, to the gulf of ruin. And shall these infatuated triflers be such willing slaves of Satan, such cheerful devotees to folly? and we engage in the service of the blessed Jesus, with reluctance or reserve? Shall they give the world and its God theirwholehearts? and wedivideours with Him, who made them and redeemed them? Shall theyfly, when dissipation solicits, and amusements call? and shall wecreep, when the God of love cries “Follow me?â€Â Forbid it gratitude, devotion, and common sense! Rather may we say, “Thine we are, Lord, by ties the most sacred, and obligations the most binding, and thou shalt have our whole hearts; for, thou art worthy!â€Â And, in order to prevail on you to do this, give me leave to urge those,
III. Motives, which ought to prompt our compliance with the reasonable demand in the text. Now, these are founded upon the state of the human heart by nature—the many mercies we receive from God, the uncertainty of time, and the great danger of procrastination—and the nature of Him, who makes the demand.
1. If the heart were now in its primeval state of rectitude and purity, the requisitions of its attachment and obedience would be superfluous. But as it is very far gone from original righteousness, and estranged from its great original of blessedness and perfection; the effaced characters of holiness and purity must be restored by the agency of the Holy Ghost; and the foul stain of sin expunged by the blood of Jesus. Hence, the scriptures so strongly insist upon the necessity of “anewheart and a right spirit,†Psal. li. because the natural heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.â€Â Jer. xvii. 9. And, as the same infallible authority declares, that “except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven,†John, iii. 3, see the important necessity of that great change, and of the act of voluntary surrender, by which it takes place. If you wish that obduracy, which steels them both againstthreatenings and promises, softened; and that corruption, which makes your hearts naturally the sink of sin, pardoned and subdued, you must give them to Jesus, for these great purposes. Fancy not that any power of the creature is sufficient to accomplish this. Sad experience may teach you the contrary. Therefore, until your heart be given to God, the fountain being evil, the streams must be so of course. So that, all your thoughts, words, and actions, like the foul exhalations that ascend from a stagnated and putrid lake, must partake of the polluted source, from whence they rise, and be infinitely odious in the sight of the Lord. And sooner shall God cease to be, or his word fail in its accomplishment, than any sinner, with an unchanged heart, shall enter his kingdom.
2. Consider the mercies of God. How great! how numerous! when traced from the moment of your birth, through the successive stages of life to the present hour; or contemplated in his glorious works, and most merciful dispensations! Divine mercy hath spared the life, which divine power first gave, and a long list of favors, as unmerited as they are numerous, hath swelled the account through every interval of your days. Fruitful seasons, exuberant plenty, outward peace, the possession of health, the light of yonder sun that cheers the world with hisprolific beam, and the clouds that drop fatness on the earth, vallies standing thick with corn, and liberty, that crown of national privileges, are all mercies, that have a voice, would sinners but hear it, that cries, “Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!â€Â Psal. cvii. 8. Reflect upon the mercies of redemption—upon the breadth, length, depth, and height of them, as they shine out in richest lustre in Jesus Christ; and say, Should you withhold your heart from the Father of these mercies? Because he is merciful, will you presume? And while he is dispensing his favors, will you rebel against him? Had not mercy interposed, your worthless heart had never been inquired after; and had God dealt with you as your sins deserved, you might have been at this moment beyond the reach of mercy for ever.
3. Know that another day may find you in eternity. And if the great work should not be done, who would be in your condition for ten thousand worlds? It is high time to awake out of sleep. You have, perhaps, sometimes seen and acknowledged the necessity of seeking the Lord. But, as if this were a kind of bondage in which you were to engage, or some grievous business you wished to postpone; you have beenputting it off to some distant period, as if life were at your own disposal, or religion the last thing a man should think of. Or, you wished to give your heart to God; but a constant succession of snares and rivals hath to this day prevented. Oh that you may procrastinate and delay no longer! Lest, while you are asking leave of the world and your lusts to give your heart to God, death should strike the fatal blow, and transmit you to the eternal world, to lament for ever your having trifled with your immortal soul, your time, your conscience, and with God.
4. I come now to urge the last motive, taken from the nature of the person, who says, “My son, give me thine heart.â€Â That person is God; the most high, and holy God; the Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer of men, who gave us a being, and, when in a state of apostacy, took our nature, and was manifest in the flesh, that he might save us from sin. The three persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit, unite in the request; especially the second, who groaned beneath our weight of woes, and sunk under the burden of our imputed guilt; whose bitter passion bespoke the horrid nature of sin, and the greatness of redeeming love. It is Jesus, the chiefest among ten thousand, that asks your hearts, O sinners! They are the purchaseof his blood; and can you deny him his own dear-bought property? See him in his bloody sweat, or view him bleeding and mangled on the cross, and then say, whether he must not have loved your hearts, when Gethsemane’s garden and Calvary’s mount have been witnesses to the intenseness of his desire to win them? Fancy that you were present at the tragical scene of his sufferings, and that you saw him this moment nailed to the accursed tree; and that, while in this state of ignominy and torture, you were accosted with the following address from his precious dying lips:—“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold and see, if there was ever sorrow like unto my sorrow! Behold in my hands and feet the marks of my dying love; and see, there gushes forth a fountain in which the guilty may wash and be clean. While my temples stream with blood, they are disgraced with a crown of thorns that lacerate them, which I contentedly wear, that a diadem of glory may encircle your brow. My heart is big with sorrow, and upon my eye-lids is the shadow of death. My soul is transfixed with the arrows of Almighty vengeance, the poison whereof is the bitterest ingredient in my cup of sorrow. For your sins I suffer all this, and die to save you from death eternal. The last drop of my blood shall be shed to expiateyour guilt, and the merit of it shall cleanse the earth, and perfume heaven. My dying breath shall be spent in prayer for the persons who brought me to this shame and pain; and I shall rejoice in this travail of my soul, if you look to me for salvation. I die to win your heart. Do not plant additional daggers in mine, or tear open my wounds afresh by denying my request. O, my son! giveMEthine heart.â€â€”Thus may we suppose the dying love of Jesus to address us. And who can withstand such philanthropy, or withhold his heart from a Redeemer, who asks it in agony and blood? A believer, contemplating his crucified Lord in such circumstances of love and sorrow, would say, with the poet,
“O may I breathe no longer than I breatheMy soul in praise to Him, who gave my soul,And all her infinite of prospect fair,Cut thro’ the shades of hell, Great Love, by thee!Oh! most adorable! most unador’d!Where shall that praise begin, which ne’er should end?â€
“O may I breathe no longer than I breatheMy soul in praise to Him, who gave my soul,And all her infinite of prospect fair,Cut thro’ the shades of hell, Great Love, by thee!Oh! most adorable! most unador’d!Where shall that praise begin, which ne’er should end?â€
And now, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and upon the authority of his sacred word, I beg leave to put the grand question; which I pray that every one of us may be able to answer in the affirmative,Have you given your hearts to God? I ask the question most solemnly, as one that must shortlymeet you at the judgment-seat of Christ; where if either preacher or hearers appear without the blessing suggested in the text, it would be better we had never been born. Remember, as you will answer at the great and terrible day of the Lord, that I have this day begged you to give Christ your hearts. If you do, he will wash them in his blood; he will make them happy, and keep them so. But, if the world engross your affections, and sin be suffered to tyrannize in your heart, the consequence will be horrible beyond all conception. Will you, therefore,canyou,dareyou deny a request, that involves in it your eternal happiness or misery? May there not be one dissentient voice! But, with the most unanimous and solemn surrender, may all cry out, “Here are our hearts; blessed Jesus, take them, and seal them eternally thine.â€Â Amen and Amen.
AN INVITATION TO THE GOSPEL FEAST.
“Come;for all things are now ready.â€Luke, xiv. 17.
“Come;for all things are now ready.â€Luke, xiv. 17.
Theparable, from whence I have selected the text, resembles, in its general import,thatrecorded in Mat. xxii. 2–10. The design of our Lord, in both, is, to represent, under the similitude of a sumptuous feast, the rich provision, which he hath made for his people in thecovenantof redemption;—thesuitablenessof that provision to all the effects and consequences of our fall;—themediumof its conveyance, the divine person and glorious salvation of the Son of God;—the extensive and mercifulinvitation, given in the gospel to participate of its rich blessings;—and the differentreception, which that gospel meets with from the men of the world; some treating it with indifference and scorn, and others, through grace, embracing itas the most acceptable message, that ever addressed the ears of mortals, and as the most invaluable gift, that God could bestow, or sinners receive.
These are the principal topics illustrated in both parables: the analogy, beauty, and important tendency of which must strike the mind of any person, whose eyes have been opened to see the worth of his soul, and the method by which its guilt is to be expiated and its pollutions cleansed; who is athirst for truth, and longs to experience that happiness, which only they feel, who know Christ and him crucified: by such an one, the blessings exhibited in the parable will be considered as the most gracious vouchsafement of Heaven; and thecallgiven in the text, as infinitely superior in importance, to that which would invite the most indigent beggar to the table of plenty and munificence, or raise a fettered captive from theterrorsof a dungeon to the splendor of a throne.
Though the parable, when delivered by our Lord, had a more immediate reference to the state of the Jews; yet, as Providence hath distinguished us by a similar greatness of religious privileges; and to abuse and slight these favors is a characteristic of our guilt, as it was of theirs; since, whatever was written aforetime was written for our learning; and it is a matter that involvesin it consequences of the most serious nature, whether we receive or reject that greatest of all the favors of Providence, theGOSPELof the blessed God; I shall take occasion to enforce the important invitation in the text, by considering: I. The nature of the provision to which sinners are invited: II. The extent and freeness of the invitation itself: III. The grand argument to excite obedience to the invitation, viz. “All things are ready.â€
1. As to the nature of the provision to which sinners are invited, it is represented under the similitude of afeast; prepared in the counsels of the Trinity before all worlds, and exhibited in the fulness of time, when Messiah, the bread of life, came down from heaven, and “gave himself a ransom for many.â€Â A feast, where all is of God’s providing; and in which, although the entertainment cost an immense sum, and infinitely surpasseth all the delicacies of nature, yet all is offered “without money and without price.â€Â Isa. lv. 1. Agreatfeast, because of thedignityof him who prepared it, the richprovisionmade in it by the hand of munificent grace, and themultitudesthat in all ages have been fed from this exhaustless store. It is called in the context asupper; and the period in which the invitation was given is calledsupper-time; perhaps in allusion to the period ofour Lord’s incarnation, and of the promulgation of the gospel, which happened in the eve of time, and is therefore styled by prophets and apostles “the last days,†Acts, ii. 17. Heb. i. 2, or last dispensation: not, that the blessings of redemption wereconfinedto that period, or commenced only with the manifestation of Christ in the flesh. Abraham rejoiced to see his day; and he saw it, and was glad. John, viii. 56. And the gospel was preached to him, when Jehovah said, “In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed.â€Â Gal. iii. 8. The promise made to our first parents after the fall was a virtual exhibition of the gospel feast; and the whole economy of Moses, with all its rites, types, and oblations, but “a shadow of good things to come,†of which Christ is the substance. Heb. x. 1. Israel in the wilderness “ate the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For, they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them: and that rock was Christ.â€Â 1 Cor. x. 3, 4. The prophets were raised up at different periods, to unfold the blessings contained in the original promise to preach Christ, and predict his “sufferings and the glory that was to follow.â€Â For, “to him give all the prophets witness,†Acts, x. 43: so that, from the beginning of time, in the family of Adam, the days of the patriarchs, andprophets, and the dispensation of Moses, the same truth was revealed that afterwards shone forth with superior lustre under the gospel dispensation; and believers then feasted by faith on that Paschal Lamb, that was at last actually offered up to take away the sin of the world. But it was not till after a period of four thousand years had elapsed, that the longings of the church of God were indulged with that “feast of fat things,†Isa. xxv. 6, now exhibited in the gospel. As there is but one sun to illuminate both hemispheres, and his rays are sent forth in all directions; so there is but one Sun of Righteousness to both dispensations; and both are illuminated, though with different degrees of irradiation; the light vouchsafed to the church before the coming of Christ, resembling that of the “morning spread upon the mountains;†the evangelical light, like the sun in his meridian brightness. Yet, as the church is one, so is the sun that illuminates her; and that sun is the Lord our righteousness.
Some, guided in their interpretation of scripture, more by sound than by sense, and by the analogy of faith, have supposed, that the feast in the text, to which sinners are invited, is the sacrament of the Lord’s supper; and they have added one fatal mistake to another, by assuming from hence a false authority of giving unlimitedand pressing invitations to sinners to approach that sacred ordinance; as if, because, when the bread and wine are prepared for the celebration of it, “and all things†inthatsense “are ready,†therefore every man, who receives the invitation, ought to “come.â€Â Without enlarging here on the extreme folly and danger of pressing men to come to the sacrament, before they have by faith come to Christ; I cannot help observing, that the scripture before us affords no room to justify their conduct, or to countenance the absurd comment, on which the temerity of it is founded. Not to say, that the parable looks back to a period longbeforethe sacrament was instituted, and that the extensive invitation before us is absolutely incompatible with the state of communicants in general; it is sufficient to refute the interpretation imposed on the text only to observe, that a parable cannot delineate an ordinance consisting of outward symbols; since this would be to make one set of external images and metaphors explanatory of another; and even to make the latter, thething signified, when it is itselfbut a sign. The nature of a parable, and that of a sacrament, may agree in delineating one subject common to both; but they cannot mutually represent each other. Thus, the sacrament of the Lord’s supper is a feast, but it is only so as being in itselements a representation of the body and blood of Christ. These are the “inward part and thing signified.â€Â But to those who receive the sign, without acting faith on the thing signified, the sacrament becomes no feast at all: they have no life or enjoyment in it; and through their unbelief it turns eventually into poison instead of food. So that what is the inward spiritual substance of that institution, constitutes also the divine realities couched under the metaphors in the parable. The supper in both is, Jesus crucified for sinners, with all the riches of his atonement and dying love; on which the soul of a believer feeds, as its richest repast.
This reasoning is further strengthened by the consideration, that in the corresponding parable in Mat. xxii. thekingdom of heavenis said to be like unto a man making a great supper or a wedding for his son. Now, the kingdom of heaven never signifies a sacrament; but is used, when occurring in parables, to represent the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah; or, the manner in which he conducts the affairs of his church at large, with respect to the dispensation of the gospel, and the influence of his grace. And this observation leads us of course to examine one most striking circumstance introduced by St. Matthew into the correspondentparable, as stated byhim; which is, that the feast was made upon occasion of “amarriagewhich a king made for his son.â€[138]The marriage is the union between Christ and his church, which he espoused to himself from all eternity in “the counsel of peace which was between†the Father and him. Ephes. v. 32. Zech. vi. 13. He agreed to be the church’s bridegroom; to take her into covenant relation, and into a most sublime and intimate union with himself. He stipulated to purchase her with his blood; and to transfer, as a dowry richer than heaven and earth, the glorious righteousness which he was to bring in by his life and death; together with all the personal excellencies and divine perfections, which make him the chief among ten thousand and altogether lovely. The day of his nativity was the day of his espousals; and the hour of his death, the important hour of her redemption. Each ransomed sinner in his regeneration exemplifies this spiritual marriage; and Christ does that actually in time, as fast as his redeemed are called, which he did decretively before the foundation of the world. And when all the purposes of his grace shall be finished,and “the number of his elect accomplished,†then shall the grand and final solemnization of the nuptials between the heavenly bridegroom and his church take place; and heaven and earth shall sing, “Let us be glad and rejoice: for the marriage of theLambis come, and hisWifehath made herself ready.â€Â Rev. xix. 7.
It is, from hence, easy to perceive, that the high entertainment provided for sinners, elected, redeemed, regenerated, and united to Christ, is, the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, of which he is the messenger and the mediator; the conditions whereof were fulfilled by his perfect obedience and meritorious death and passion; and all the blessings comprehended in which, are as sure as the stipulation of the glorious Trinity, the inviolable oath and promises of Jehovah, and the redemption of Christ Jesus, could possibly make them. This gracious covenant is the eternal charter of all their privileges; and is, therefore, all their desire and all their salvation. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. They consider it as incapable of being ever invalidated by the requisitions of law or justice, the accusations of Satan, or the demerit of the foulest iniquity. “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It isGodthat justifieth: Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died.â€Rom. viii. 33, 34. They behold the contents of this mysterious volume unfolded in the person of the Mediator—for, none in heaven or in earth was found worthy so much as to look upon, much less to open, the book with seven seals, but himself, Rev. v. 3,—and they see, with rapture, its glorious ratification by his testamentary death. Herein they read, not only their exemption from guilt, but also their well-grounded title to everlasting glory, through the imputed righteousness of God manifest in the flesh. O what a rich feast is this covenant to him who “takes hold†of it by faith, Isa. lvi. 4, to save him from sinking in the gulf of perdition, and to secure his everlasting salvation! With such a hold, he stands the shock of earth and hell, maintains his ground amidst ten thousand difficulties and dangers; sees his enemies all under his feet; sings in the ways of the Lord, that great is the glory of the Lord; and, “although the fig-tree should not blossom, or fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive should fail, and the fields should yield no meat, the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there should be no herd in the stall: yet,†participating of such a banquet, and standing upon such a rock, he “rejoices in the Lord, and joys in the God of his salvation.â€Â Hab. iii. 17, 18.
The covenantagreed uponbetween the persons of the Trinity, is the feastprepared: the covenant revealed, is that feastexhibited. But, O what a mysterious and gracious exhibition! Behold it in the person, in the obedience, and death, of the Prince of Peace! in that profound mystery, “God reconciling the world unto himself, by bearing their sins in his own body on the tree,†and putting himself in our law-place, to endure the dreadful curse and wrath of Jehovah! 2 Cor. v. 19. 1 Pet. ii. 24. Gal. iii. 13. When the Jews asked, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus answered, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.â€Â John, vi. 52, 53. His flesh and blood are the life, the feast, the salvation of sinners. The rending of the one, and the effusion of the other, constituted that great propitiation, by which sin is fully expiated, and inexorable justice completely satisfied. Remission of sins, peace with God, and peace in the conscience, all spring from this mysterious source. When the eye of reason, blinded by unbelief, views the Saviour in his humiliation, his poverty, his sorrows, his death; it sees no form nor comeliness in him, to make him an object of desire or attraction; pride abhors the sight, and self-righteousness turns away with disgust. But in that man of sorrows, covered with blood,crowned with thorns, and nailed to the accursed tree, the believer beholds the most glorious and beauteous object in the whole universe of God; because he considers and trusts in him as that great sacrifice, in the offering up of which all the perfections of Deity shine forth in the most stupendous exhibition. Faith beholds ten thousand charms in a dying Christ, that captivate the heart, and fill it with love and amazement. The beauty and glory of all creation are eclipsed by the superior excellence of this bleeding Prince of Peace. “The chief among ten thousand, the altogether lovely,†are the favorite epithets, by which the enraptured soul speaks its love and admiration of Jesus: and “WHAT SHALL I RENDER?†is the astonished question it utters for a gift so great. What faith sees, and admires, it feasts upon. The flesh of Jesus is meat indeed, and his blood, drink indeed, John, vi. 55, when that appropriating grace is in lively exercise. Hence, every thing that belongs to thecrucifiedJesus, becomes a feast, for food and delight, for strength and refreshment. His blood and righteousness, his offices, and relations to his people; his several titles that characterize his compassion, and delineate his affection towards them; afford so many inexhaustible themes for delightful meditation; by which the souls of the weary are satiated,and the conscience of the burdened sinner calmed, and set at liberty. His agony and bloody sweat, his cross and passion, are healing springs, from whence ten thousand salutary streams of life, peace, and salvation, flow.
A wond’rous feast his love prepares,Bought with his blood, his groans, and tears!
A wond’rous feast his love prepares,Bought with his blood, his groans, and tears!
Hence, thepromisesare a feast, because they are all sealed with his blood; and thegospelis a feast, because it publishes a free and complete salvation through his name;—that dear name, which, “like ointment poured forth,†diffuses an exquisite fragrance throughout all the promises, and communicates a preciousness to the gospel, which makes it a rich savor of life unto life. And, when in that sacrament, which, by sacred and significant symbols, exhibits his dying love, the soul is enabled to eat the bread of life, and drink that stream that gushes from the smittenRock, 1 Cor. x. 4; it then joins issue with the experience of the church in the Song of Solomon, “He brought me into the banqueting-house, and his banner over me was love.â€Â Solomon’s Song, ii. 4.
As the provision, which God hath been pleased to lay up in the covenant of grace, and the redemption of his Son, is calculated to communicateentertainment infinitely more exalted and refined, than what can be derived from the highest gratification of the senses; it follows, that the feast we are considering, is of aspiritualnature: it is a feast for thesoul, that nobler part of us, which constitutes our real selves, and in which are lodged the quickest perceptions and most permanent susceptibility of pleasure. For, as the soul, in the extent of its desires, the capacious powers of its exertion, and the resources of its enjoyments, surpasses, in so great a degree, that earthly vehicle in which it dwells, and by an union with which its immortal vigor is so much repressed and circumscribed; so are thepleasuresof the mind capable of being proportionably more pure, more lasting, more refined, and more sublime. But, as the senses are so intimately connected with the rational faculties, and form those inlets by which various pleasing sensations are conveyed to the soul; hence the enjoyments of the latter are called, in scripture, by those very terms which describe the exertions and distinguish the nature of the former. Thus believers are said, “totasteandseethat the Lord is good,†Psal. xxxiv. 8; to “handlethe word of life,†1 John, i. 1; to “drinkthe river of pleasures,†Psal. xxvi. 8; and to “eatthe bread of life.â€Â And those objects in creation which strike thesenses with the most exquisite delight, or are best calculated to convey strength and nutriment to animal nature, are selected, by the inspired writers, as symbols of those resources, from whence the rich variety of a Christian’s pleasures are derived. The blessings of redemption are compared by the prophet towineandmilk. Isa. lv. 1. This, the most nutritive—that, the most exhilarating—liquid in nature. The delicious droppings of the honey-comb were inferior in sweetness, in the opinion of David, to the word of God; and even “the most fine gold†had, in his estimation, no value, when weighed in the balance with that sacred treasure. What object in nature is so celebrated as therose, for its fragrance? thelilyof the vallies, for beauty? and thesun, for grandeur and utility? Yet, the pleasure, which the senses imbibe from the splendor of the one, or the perfumes of the other, is languid and transient, compared with the superior satisfaction which the enlightened soul feels, when contemplating the amiable perfections of that Redeemer, who was white in immaculate innocence as the lily; who, as the rose of Sharon, blushed in blood; whose sacrifice sends up an odor before the throne of God, that perfumes the heavens and the earth with the sweetest incense; and who as the Sun of Righteousness, risen with healingin his wings, irradiates and cheers a world, naturally sunk in misery and sin.
From hence it follows, that there is a divine reality in true religion, of which the soul of a Christian is as sensible, as when the eye beholds a beauteous object; the mouth tastes delicious food; or the ear is charmed with harmonious sounds. To dispute or deny this, would be to rob Christianity of its essence, the gospel of its power, Christ of his preciousness, and the soul of its heaven upon earth; and to place the sordid gratifications of the epicure and the brute upon a level with the enjoyments of a Christian living in happy communion with his God, exulting in a sense of his favor, and anticipating the prospect of everlasting felicity. But what pleasure is comparable, then, with that of all the faculties of the mind, engaged in intercourse with a reconciled God? Theunderstandingis feasted with views of the unsearchable riches of Christ. Thewillis captivated with sweet complacency in the plan of salvation through him. Theaffectionsbanquet on the sense of pardoning love. And thememoryis a repository of ten thousand sacred sweets, collected from that bed of roses, the scriptures of truth, and treasured up there, for the purpose of feeding and regaling each spiritual sense. Thus is thewhole soulfeasted. And this is the feastof saints on earth; and this, the banquet of the skies.
But, what endears the provision, and the God of all grace, who made it, is; that it is a feast forsinners—for sinners of the race of Adam—for the poor, the wretched, the guilty, and the undone—for those, who have nothing to pay, nothing to plead, and nothing to bring but misery and sin. And this leads me to consider,
II. The extent and freeness of the invitation itself.
We are here carefully to distinguish the general invitation of a preached gospel from the inward and effectual call of the Holy Spirit: because, though in the salvation of individuals they always co-operate, yet experience demonstrates, that, in innumerable instances, the influences of the latter do not necessarily and invariably attend the promulgation of the former. If they did, what multitudes would be saved! Yet, that sinners may be left without excuse for their obstinacy and unbelief, the ministers of Christ are authorized to “preach the gospel to every creature;†Mark, xvi. 15; and to give a general call, to all that have ears to hear, to come to the gospel feast. And, whatever some may argue to the contrary, who affect to be “wise above that which is written,†and who indulge themselves in a sort of mischievous refinementon the system of evangelical truth; yet it is evident, as well from the blessings which have particularly distinguished the ministrations of those, who give a general call, as from the fact recorded in the parable, of multitudes having been actually invited, who made light of the invitation; that the ministers of Christ are warranted to “set life and death before all,†and to beseech them to “choose life, that they may live;†Deut. xxx. 15; yea, to exhort even a Simon Magus to “pray God, if haply the sin of his heart may be forgiven,†though previously in “the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity.â€Â Acts, viii. 22. Yet they know that the power to “choose life,†to “pray with the spirit,†and the blessing of forgiveness, are all of God; that none can “come to Christ except the Fatherdrawhim;†John, vi. 44; and that a putrid corpse in the grave could as soon raise itself to life, or the “dry bones,†Ezek. xxxvii. 1–4, in Ezekiel’s vision, form themselves, by their own power, into an army of living men, as sinners “dead in sin,†Ephes. ii. 1, can, without a divine agency, obey the invitation of the gospel. But, knowing that to obey, and not to reason against the divine command, is the duty of ministers; satisfied that secret things belong unto the Lord, who reserves the knowledge of the human heart,and the distribution of his own favors, to himself; and being persuaded that God can make the breath of life accompany the breath of men, for the purpose of “quickeningwhom he will,†John, v. 21, they, therefore, in imitation of the prophet, who cried out, “O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!†say to sinners in general, “Come; for all things are now ready.â€
Besides, the gospel furnishes us with arguments so forcible, and contains in itself motives so constraining, as to warrant and encourage an address to all, as rational creatures. These arguments and these motives are principally reducible to this one, that “God commendeth his love towards us, in that when we were yetSINNERS, Christ died for us.â€Â Rom. v. 8. And, as all are in that predicament, it is upon a presupposition of that humiliating truth, and the suitableness of a proportionate remedy, that I proceed to urge the gospel invitation upon all present, and to recommend the great provision of the covenant, because it exhibits a feast forsinners. This is the leading motive.
1. Had man retained his primeval innocence; to delight himself in God as his supreme portion, and to feast the powers of his soul in contemplating his glorious perfections; would have been an employ as easy as it would have been pleasant. In that case, the creatures wouldhave been considered as so many streams leading up to one common fountain of goodness and blessedness; while the wisdom, power, and benignity, which they displayed, would have afforded to the mind an exhaustless fund of love, and praise, and wonder, through everlasting ages. But he sinned; and by sin was cut off from the fountain of his happiness. The crown of honor fell from his head; and the moral image of God, in which he had been created, was lost. So that whatever delight he may have once experienced, in a contemplation of the nature, works, and attributes of Deity; it must have all ceased in the moment of his transgression. He could not, in his fallen state, have derived any comfort from a view of perfections, that bore the tremendous aspect towards him as a rebel against his Maker. But here grace interposed. The guilty fugitive is called back from his apostacy, and invited to a scene, where he beholds all Heaven’s attributes receiving their respective claims, and all harmonizing together for the purpose of his salvation. Even sternjusticeitself advances to plead the sinner’s cause; and, in sweet concert with truth and mercy, to shower blessings on his guilty head. It points to Calvary; there shews its vindictive sword lying at the foot of the cross, reeking with the blood of the slaughteredLamb; and cries witha loud voice, “Deliver him from going down to the pit; for I have found a ransom.â€Â Job, xxxiii. 24. Thus justice infinite, joins to spread the most delicious part of the gospel repast; because it is written, “God is just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.â€Â Rom. iii. 26. And, though this part of the feast may be particularly disgustful to the disciple of Sozo,[151]who tramples under foot the blood of the covenant, by denying its atoning virtue, and the Deity of him who shed it; though it may be thought unworthy the notice of the proud Sceptic, who employs his philosophic wit to ridicule what he does not understand; or, though the Pharisee should be so enamored with his dear idol, Self, as to fly from a truth that aims at pulling the dagon of self-righteousness down to the ground; yet to one, who hathfelthimself a sinner, and hath been made todreadthe requisitions of God’s justice as a bar to preclude the claims of mercy, no saying will appear so worthy of acceptation, as that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save the chief of sinners,†and that God is both “faithful andjust,†when he extends forgiveness through his Son. 1 Tim. i. 15. 1 John, i. 9.
2. The condition of the persons, for whom the gospel feast is prepared, affords another most powerful motive to encourage our approach to it. The messengers in the parable were commanded to invite “the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind.â€Â Persons labouring under bodily infirmities, here represent poor sinners oppressed with spiritual maladies, and waiting, like the paralytic at Bethesda’s pool, for a cure. Such crowd about the door of mercy; and only such will bless the hand of the great Physician. The call is general: but, to none will it be particular, or welcome, or effectual, but to those whoseetheir wants, andfeeltheir sins. The message of the gospel is manna itself for sweetness, to such as have received the sentence of death in themselves by the law. But the “fullsoul loatheththishoney-comb.â€Â Prov. xxvii. 7. It would be deemed an insult, to spread a feast for the full; to recommend a physician, or propose a remedy to persons in health; to offer water to him that is not thirsty, or a garment to him who is already clothed; to preach liberty to him who is not bound, or to point him to a fountain who is clean in his own eyes. But, though the “whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick,†Mat. ix. 12, to such as see themselves foul and leprous, lost, and guilty, thestreams of Jordan were not more efficacious to eradicate Naaman’s leprosy, than the fountain of Christ’s blood is to cleanse from sins of the deepest dye. Say not then, “I am unworthy; my sins are too enormous to be forgiven; my spiritual maladies of too long standing, and too inveterate, to be cured; and my heart of too stubborn a mould, to be softened or vanquished.â€Â If all the enormities of Manasseh, the blasphemings and persecutions of Saul, the backslidings of David and Peter, and all the guilt of Magdalen, met in thy single person, so as to make thee a monster in iniquity; yet, all this accumulated transgression would be no more to the infinite merit of the Redeemer’s blood, than the smallest cloud to the sun’s meridian brightness, or the debt of one single mite to the treasure of an empire; than a drop to the ocean, or a grain of sand to the globe. “The blood of Jesus cleanseth fromALLsin.â€Â 1 John, i. 7. No patient ever failed under the care of that great Physician: no indigent beggar was ever spurned from his door: no heart ever remained unsoftened under the influence of his grace: no sinner ever perished at the foot of his cross. If you are weary and heavy laden, Jesus saith, “Come unto ME, and I will give you rest.â€Â Mat. xi. 28. If your heart be hard and unbelieving, he saith again, “My son givemethineheart.â€Â Prov. xxiii. 26. If your transgressions are numerous and aggravated, he saith again, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.â€Â Isa. i. 18. If all the rebellion of the prodigal centres in thy conduct, and thou, nevertheless, art desirous of returning to thy God; see, as in his case, the Father of mercies runs to meet thee, he opens his arms to embrace thee, his house to receive thee, his wardrobe to clothe thee, his heart to love and pity thee, and he spreads his table with the richest dainties wherewith to feed thy famished soul. And if thou still persist to think thy case even worse than his, and unbelief could furnish thee with ten thousand arguments to keep thee from coming to Christ, the following glorious promise is sufficient to overturn them all: “Him that cometh to me, I will inno wisecast out.â€Â John, vi. 37.
3. But, the last, and by no means the least motive, that I shall mention under this head, as an inducement to warrant and encourage the self-diffident and returning sinner to partake of the blessings of the gospel, is, that they are all the free gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. vi. 23. “Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, let him come.â€Â Isa. lv. 1. Indeed a moment’s seriousreflection on the nature of the favors requisite to a sinner’s salvation, such as, an interest in the covenant, peace with Heaven, pardon of sin, justification before God, the spirit of holiness, and eternal life; or on the greatness of the price, with which they have been purchased, even “the blood of God;†Acts, xx. 28; or on the demerit of those, who are the recipients of those immense favors;—might convince any one of the folly and presumption of expecting the very least, on the ground of personal worthiness; and yet encourage the hope and banish the fears of the weakest and most depressed sinner upon earth. “Think not†then, as the apostle said to Simon the sorcerer, “that the gift of God may be purchased with moneyâ€â€”with human merit. Acts, viii. 20. Were you a possessor of all the treasures of the earth, or of all the moral excellencies that ever centred in any natural man since the fall, you would not therefore be entitled to even the crumbs that fall from God’s table. Yet the deepest poverty, the greatest unworthiness, are no bars to preclude your receiving the choicest of his favors, even eternal life. As, therefore, youhavenothing to pay off the immense debt you owe, so nothing is required; no merit, no works, no recommendation whatever. All is purchased already; and all gratuitously tendered. Nothing remains forthe sinner, convinced of his lost condition, but to receive with an empty hand and humble heart what infinite beneficence freely offers. Mercy’s door is open. The ministers of Christ invite you in. The master of the feast bids you welcome, saying, “Eat, O friends, drink; yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.â€Â Solomon’s Song, v. 1. The table is spread with ten thousand rich and costly benefits. The banquet is a feast of love; and “the spirit and the bride say,Come, and let him that heareth, say,Come, and let him that is athirst,Come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.â€Â Rev. xxii. 17.—But this leads me to urge,
III. The grand argument mentioned in the text to excite obedience to the invitation, viz. “All things are ready.â€
This head of the discourse will contain little more than a recapitulation of the principal subjects already considered; and they might, indeed, on that account, be thought superfluous. But, as upon occasion of a sumptuous entertainment, it would engage the attendance of a guest more, to see presented all together the several delicacies to which he is invited, than to hear a logical discussion about their various qualities; I shall, therefore, now bring together in one view, all that a God of rich grace and profuse munificence hath exhibited in the gospel feast;praying, if it be his blessed will, that all who hear the invitation this day may have grace to accept it.
“All things are ready.â€â€”The greatdeedis ready, that recites the covenant stipulations between the Father and the Son, and records the names of all the ransomed of the Lord; signed by infinite truth, and sealed with blood. Psal. xl. 6–9. Heb. x. 5–9.
The greatsacrificeis ready; on which the fire of vindictive justice fell, in the day of our Lord’s crucifixion; prefigured by the beasts that bled for a long succession of ages on Jewish altars; typified in Isaac, but realized in that propitiatory victim, the crucified Jesus. Heb. x. 1,12.
Apardonis ready; procured for infinite offence; for crimes of the deepest dye; for sinners of the most flagrant complexion; and which speaks its value infinite, bought with the blood of God incarnate. Ephes. i. 7. Acts, xx. 28.
Arighteousnessis ready; wrought out by the obedience and death of Messiah; the imputation of which covers guilt, screens from the curse of the law; fulfils its precepts, and satisfies justice; a righteousness, which “justifieth fromALLthings, and isuntoall†as a free gift, “and†as a spotless robe “uponall them thatbelieve.â€Â Acts, xiii. 39. Rom. iii. 20. This is the wedding-garment. Mat. xxii. 11.